About Aaron Hawkins
Aaron Hawkins has been the producer and presenter of the breakfast radio programme on Radio One 91FM Dunedin since 2006, and for the past three years also served as its Music Director. His student...
View ArticleWINZ In The Willows
"Treating the unemployed with the respect and decency we afford our struggling farmers only takes us half way towards leveling this playing field."
View ArticleDepartment of Conservation Was Just An Aspirational Title After All
Tourism New Zealand's two biggest campaigns to attract these wallets for their adrenaline fuelled emptying are the “100% Pure” brand campaign, and Peter Jackson's Tolkien adaptations. Both of these are...
View ArticleSend In The Clown
The question that remains, then, is whether the wounds the Prime Minister inflicts on society with his austerity economics will heal faster than the wounds he inflicts on our political discourse with...
View ArticleDavidgrad Under Seige Over NZ Power Plans
"As much as the response on the right to has been hilarious in its hyperbole, their comrades on the other side of the spectrum may be overcooking this as well. Chris Trotter’s acceptance of David...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dunedin’s Mayor Our Very Own Karma Chameleon
Salesman: Hey, sir! Try our Wax Lips: The Candy Of 1000 Uses! Homer: Like what? Salesman: One, a humorous subsitute for your own lips. Homer: Mmm hmm, keep going … Salesman: Two, ah … Ooh, I’m needed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hawkins For Mayor!
I’ve been a supporter of the Greens since 1999, a voter since 2002, a campaign volunteer since 2008 and a member since 2010. It’s an honour to be able to publicly announce my Green Party candidacy for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Growing New Zealand’s Economy (Certified Organic)
Agriculture is a cornerstone of both our national economy and our national mythology for the same reason; we’re really good at growing things. It’s the backbone of the country, we are told, but both...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Will Tau Henare Turn The Firing Squad On The Greens?
A couple of months ago I wrote about the dangerous implications for democracy of having a Prime Minister who treated his job with all the dignity and gravitas of a drunk old uncle at a family wedding....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Local Democratic Solutions To National Democratic Problems
In 2011 only 74% of eligible voters bothered to turn and vote, our lowest turnout since 1887. This downward spiral raises alarm bells every three years – in liberal circles anyhow, since it is assumed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dunedin Succeeds In Building Minds, Missing In Action When It Comes To...
Of all the crass metrics that get thrown around in our national political theatre, Kiwis Moving To Australia is one of the most problematic. It desperately reeks of Little Brother Syndrome, and seems...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saving The Planet Has Never Been So Lucrative
Investment New Zealand estimates we could create a high-value, low-carbon export economy worth $150 billion by 2025. PriceWaterhousecoopers have said that, if we make the effort to support it, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Delta Debacle: What’s going wrong in Dunedin?
The bad news continued for Dunedin City Council-owned utility company Delta continued last week, with the announcement that 77 more staff would lose their jobs (41 in Dunedin) with the closure of its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How WINZ Saved My Life (And Gutting It May Cost Others Theirs)
Shortly after graduating from University, I joined the rank and file of the over educated and underemployed, and shuffled into my local WINZ office to sign up for the dole. Being peered down at by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Do We Need JSOL Classes So Our Democracy Can Function?
The other day I was talking to a young entrepreneur in Dunedin who scoffed at me for referring to his business as an SME (Small & Medium Enterprises). He knew what that meant, but most...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More Spying Equals Less Community Engagement
500 people gathered in Dunedin’s Octagon yesterday afternoon to express their displeasure at John Key’s planned expansion of the GCSB’s Spying Powers. It is always great to have our town square...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Art Can Be The Antidote To Downtown Doledrums
In yesterday’s online edition of The Press, Dermot Martin, chief executive of UniMed Medical Care Society, put out an open call for Christchurch creative types to make use of the empty lot where their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
So Your Public Transport Sucks Eh, Auckland? Swapsies?
As much as I am aware that there are serious long term issues with population growth and infrastructure in New Zealand’s biggest city, I love to watch Aucklanders complain about their public transport...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Time to lift the bar on housing standards in the frozen South
Coming off the back of the Warmest July On Record, it can be easy for us to forget how unforgiving the climate can be in Dunedin, and how ill equipped our houses can be for coping with it. Our proud...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The DCC’s Two-Tier Method is Killing Consulation
A couple of weeks ago, the Otago Daily Times decided that it had had enough of announced job losses in Dunedin, often at the hands of The Beehive’s great centralising scalpel, and screamed “Stand...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How the Ranfurly Shield can be good for this October’s Election
On Friday night the Otago rugby team won the Ranfurly Shield for the first time since 1957, beating Waikato 26-19 in Hamilton. Dave Cull boasted he was “the first mayor since Sir Leonard Morton...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Everyone But The Mayor (Has An Opinion On Oil & Gas)
Petroleum giant Anadarko are finally setting sail for the coast of Otago this summer, parking up 60 kilometres from the Peninsula’s iconic Taiaroa Head, which includes in its vicinity the breeding...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In The Lion’s Den: A Greenie Goes To The Chamber Of Commerce
This week, the Otaqo Chamber of Commerce and the Otago Daily Times held their triennial Mayoral Forum at the Otago Museum. Oddly, given that it was largely targeted at the business community, it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dunedin Mayoral Hopefuls Do The (Climate) Denial Twist
I’m aware that there are still people in denial about man made climate change, and as such the urgent need to change our energy habits to slow it down to safer levels. Some of them are in genuine...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Notes From The Hustings, or, “So … how’s the campaign going?”
On Friday May 23rd, I announced that I had been selected to represent the Green Party in the Dunedin City Council elections, standing for the Mayoralty and a seat on the City Council. For at least...
View ArticleClik here to view.
One Ward To Rule Them All?
Mayor Dave Cull has suggested we might move to a single city ward as a result of Andrew Noone’s default victory in Waikouaiti-Port Chalmers, leaving nearly 7,000 registered voters without a say at all...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Eternal Week In The Classic Mould
A week, as the cliché so accurately runs, can be an eternity in politics. As I penned my last missive for these pages, Simon Bridges was flexing his new media strategy (Key’s Blame The Liberal Media...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My question is to all MPs & asks: Is there something wrong with your inside...
Last Tuesday, during a visit to our nation’s capital to help install a painting show, I stopped by Parliament to see our lawmakers in action. I’m a self-confessed politics nerd and I’ve wanted to do...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“What If Our Government Tried To Guide Democracy, Rather Than Dictate To It?”...
Winning the election is one thing, doing the governing is another completely. I’ve been impressed by the level of resourcing that has been made available to new Councillors at the DCC, by in house...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The oil free future is needed now
This past Saturday in Dunedin, as part of Oil Free Otago’s ‘Oil Free Future Summit’, more than 200 concerned citizens gathered raise red flags about the continued expansion of extraction, and discuss...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The DCC Draft Annual Plan: A Call To Arms for Democracy in Dunedin
The Draft Annual Plan process is the single biggest opportunity our community has to tell Council what they think we’re doing well, what we could do better, or where we should be focusing our...
View Article
